Following a brace of promotional kick-offs for the Musicology album (including an appearance a the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame ceremonies and an invite-only aftershow), Prince began his new tour in earnest, hitting Reno on March 27 then slaying Los Angeles two nights later. You can check out reviews of the show and the tour elsewhere on the web and in mainstream media; suffice to say that Prince is back and on the top of his game once again, and it’s hard to imagine anyone going to one of these shows and not feeling like they’d gotten their money’s worth.
As a bootleg document, however, Kick Out The Tour 2004, while not without its merits, is just a little too noisy to give a whole-hearted recommendation. The crowd goes nuts -- naturally enough -- over and over, and the people in the vicinity of the taper are no exception; you can hear lots of clapping near the mic as well as laughing and occasional running commentary. There will be many bootlegs surfacing from this tour and no doubt some of them will be outstanding.
Note that the encores on Disc Two (tracks 7 – 12) are rendered in “unplugged” fashion, mainly just Prince and acoustic guitar – “Little Red Corvette” is luminous done that way. Then it’s back to the full band for the inevitable “Purple Rain” grand finale – all 12 minutes’ worth.
Xpert’s packaging is nicely done for just a 2-panel insert plus 2-sided tray panel; while the front cover is just a stock photo, the rear has a great live shot of Prince playing his acoustic. -- OSWALD
